In marketing, what are products and services? And how do we know the differences, similarities, and means of using them? These are some of the questions business owners and entrepreneurs ask every day. Also, it is important to know that there are several products and services in marketing. Before delving into the products and services in marketing, we should be able to understand and distinguish between products and services.
A product is an item that is tangible and easier to market because it can be touched, displayed and demonstrated for a targeted audience. The tangibility of products is due to the fact that they can be touched or felt by customers before acquisition. For example, a potential car buyer usually checks the exterior and interior parts of the car, the car engine, and takes the car for a test drive before deciding on purchasing the car or not.
In contrast, services are intangible in nature because you can’t feel or touch them. You won’t really be sure of what you are getting until you receive the service. Services are also highly perishable which means that it’s short-lived. Ideally, services cannot be stored for later use and it is consumed as soon as it is produced. Examples of such perishable services are theater entertainment, airline flights, auto repairs among many others. If an individual purchase a ticket to a baseball game, and he/she ends up not attending, the ticket expires.
There are various similarities between products and services in marketing. It is absolutely important to understand the meaning of product marketing and service marketing in order to know their similarities. Thus, we are going to familiarize ourselves with both terms before discussing their similarities.
Product Marketing: Marketing of goods or objects which have to be manufactured, stored, transported, and sold.
Service Marketing: Different sets of strategies required to anticipate customer’s need for an intangible product. Service marketing simply meet the needs of the customers in order to create maximum value for them.
Having understood the meaning of products and services in marketing, highlighted below are the similarities between products and services in marketing;
There are also various differences between products and services in marketing. Unlike their similarities, the differences between product and services in marketing are much and they define their various uniqueness.
Elaborated below are some of the key differences between products and services in marketing:
BASIS FOR COMPARISON | PRODUCT MARKETING | SERVICE MARKETING |
Meaning | Product marketing is the process in which marketing activities are aligned to promote and sell a particular product for a specific market. | Service marketing is the marketing of economic activities by a business to their customers for adequate consideration. |
Marketing mix | 4 P’s: They include product, price, place, and promotion. | 7 P’s: They include the 4 P’s + people, process, and physical evidence. |
Sells | Offers value. | Offers good relationship. |
Who comes to whom? | Product come to customers. | Customers come to service. |
Transfer | Product can be possessed and resold to another party. | Services can neither be owned or transferred to another party. |
Returnability | Product can easily be returned | Services cannot be returned after it has been rendered. |
Tangibility | Customers can see and touch a product before deciding to buy it. | Customers cannot feel or see it. They can only experience it, so it is difficult to promote service. |
Separability | The company producing a product and that particular product, are separable. | It is impossible to separate service from its provider. |
Customization | It cannot be customized to fulfil a particular customer requirement. | Services are highly variable, so they can easily be customized to suit different customer’s need. |
Imagery | Product are imagery and consequently, receives quick response from customers. | Services do not receive quick response from customers because they are non-imagery. |
Quality Comparison | Product quality can easily be measured. | Service quality are not measurable. |
There are different types of products in marketing. Marketers usually classify these products into four namely;
These four types of products involve different purchasing behaviors and characteristics. Thus, they should be marketed because the types of products differ in the way customers buy them.
Convenience products are those products that customers normally buy frequently and without much comparison or buying effort. This is because the customer already has the required information needed on the product before they go out to purchase it. Also, Convenience products are usually affordable and available. Retailers in several locations make them readily available for customers. Examples of such include laundry detergent, magazines, cereal, bread etc.
Convenience can further be divided into three categories;
Shopping products are those products that the customers have no sufficient information about. They are products that customers usually compare on attributes such as price, quality, and style in the process of selecting and purchasing. Unlike convenience products, shopping products are usually less frequently purchased and compared more carefully. Therefore, customers spend more time and efforts gathering information about the product and comparing alternatives.
Shopping products are further classified into:
Speciality products are those products with unique characteristics or brand identification for which customers are willing to make a special purchase option. In other words, they are willing to put in all the money and efforts required to get that particular product. They are willing to pay a higher price than they would for an alternative product if they need to. However, with these products, their loyalty is never wavered and substitute product is never an option for them. Example of such products include designer clothing, Rolex watch, customized cars and a whole lot of others.
Unsought product are those products that customers are either unaware of or they are aware but do not consider buying under normal conditions. In other words, customers do not think about them normally, at least not until they need them. Due to the fact that newest innovations are unsought, they require much more advertising, selling, and marketing efforts. Examples of these types of products are fire extinguisher, reference book, and life insurance among many others.
There are various types of services in marketing. These services form a very important aspect of the operations of startup businesses. This is because they are concerned about creating awareness in the market and standing against competitors. Below are the different types of services in marketing:
These marketing services are required by many companies and they are used by most marketing departments.
This is arguably regarded as the most important service in marketing. Many companies hire creative teams and pay huge amounts for their creative services. Furthermore, some of these creative services include coming up with the brand logo, design, or an ad concept. Creative marketing services are in a lot of demand because it enable companies to offer multiple options to their customers.
Also, it attracts more customers because every customer wants creativity in the service rendered to them. For example, when designing a logo, the marketing team takes into consideration the request of customers, the competitor, and the nature of the business. This will enable them come up with the proper brand logo that defines the company and the brand.
Advertising is another example of where companies have to be creative and consider their customers’ ideas. Good creative means of advertising your services will also help attract more customers.
Most people will argue that designing is a part of creative services. While there is some element of truth to it, some companies prefer to have both of them separated, while investing only in designing. Examples of such designing services are website designing, poster and flyer designing and campaign designing. Designing services does not guarantee sales but it definitely proves to be attractive for prospective customers.
For example, a well-designed website with a fast loading speed play an important role in attracting customers since it forms the first impression of the company. Therefore, designing services play an important role in marketing because it gives impression of professionalism to the customers and also helps attract prospective customers.
Most companies require personalized services for their customers, and such services may be internal or external. Personalized services can be products such as books or other material that are printed with company’s name or logo . This serves as a reminder to customers about the company and their products thereby enabling repeat purchase.
For example, in the pharmaceutical sector, the brand name of manufactured drugs is printed on the letter pad and handed over to the doctors, who give prescriptions to patients. Personalized services are also used in event organization wherein the name of the product or group is printed on the giveaways. The primary aim of every businesses is to ensure repeat purchase from customers and personalizing your services will help market it.
Most of the companies in this modern era are going digital, which is why they require digital marketing service. Digital marketing services helps increase the reach of companies in multiple folds. It comes at a low cost and have an enormous reach to the public, regardless of their location or position. There are several services in digital marketing and each one play an important role for companies to reach their targeted audience. Examples of digital marketing services are social media marketing, SEO, content marketing etc.
Social media marketing is when companies targets the audience with specific posts and advertisement with the aid of social media.
Search Engine Optimization helps companies attract the maximum audience by appearing on the search page and increasing the rank of their website. Some companies hire SEO specialist to render this type of service in order to reach their targeted audience.
Content marketing is one of the best digital marketing services. It has the ability to double website conversion rate, as well as promote brand awareness and revenue increase for companies.
Having understood the roles and importance of products and services in marketing, you can be able to understand and distinguish between them. Thus, it ensures that business owners and entrepreneurs have in-depth knowledge of choosing the best means of marketing products or services in their businesses.